Articles by Corrina Baird

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Corrina Baird

Writer and expert greenslips.com.au

Corrina used to lend her car to her kids and discovered first hand what Ls, Ps and demerits mean for greenslips. After 20 years of writing and research in financial services, she’s an expert in the NSW CTP scheme.
Read more about Corrina

The way cars work has remained fundamentally unchanged since the internal combustion engine boldly took over from the horse. But radical new technologies continue to be added to our cars, such as GPS systems, parking sensors and now, dashcams. A dashcam might be exciting, but do you need one?

The year 2016 may be a time of change for the NSW green slip scheme. Already, three discussion papers have been published in quick succession. Now State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA), regulator of the green slip scheme, invites motorists and other interested parties to have your say about:

Roads and Maritime Services issues a long document – currently 13 pages and around 650 offences – that lists all the general driving offences in NSW. The list can change at any time. You may wonder just how many of these offences you know about.

Infrastructure Australia (IA) recommends a change in the way motorists pay for road use. In the Australian Infrastructure Plan 2016, it says motorists should be charged to reflect their individual use of roads.

Choosing a car can be a tricky experience in today’s world of fierce competition and technological complexity. Some people want plenty of style and grunt. Someone else just wants to drive safely and save fuel. The NRMA and six state auto clubs created Australia’s Best Cars, a car awards program that helps you choose a car.

Cycling along with the wind in your hair may seem like a thing of the past but, under a new road safety plan, the ACT may be the first to take off cycling helmets.

First, the ACT wants to be the first Australian jurisdiction to have zero deaths or injuries on the road. Under the National Road Safety Strategy 2011–2020 (NRSS), all states and territories in Australia have the target of reducing road deaths and serious injuries by 30% by 2020.

Wonky walkers are a familiar sight – somebody walking across the road while stabbing at their mobile phone. Who has not felt frustrated with the pedestrian who is so captivated they don’t look where they are going?

The fact is more pedestrians died on NSW roads in 2015 than 2014. There were 61 fatalities in 2015, compared to 41 in 2014 – 17.5% of all deaths on the road. Sadly, 17-25 year olds have the second highest risk of death as pedestrians (after older pedestrians, 75 years and over).

Drinking and driving

Regular drivers to the Sydney CBD are being forced to slow down. From April this year, 40kmh speed limits will apply across a larger zone.

Many people in the CBD are on foot and some take unncessary risks when crossing the roads. In the past 10 years, 12 have died and more than 1,400 have been injured. (In fact, pedestrian deaths saw the highest increase in all of NSW, up 48.7%, from 41 deaths in 2014 to 61 in 2015.)

During 2015, more Australians than ever went out to buy a new motor vehicle. They bought 1,155,408 new passenger cars, sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and commercial vehicles. This was 3.8% more than in 2014 and it broke the record set in 2013.

SUVs were so popular, sales grew 15.9% and took up a whopping 35.4% of the market, up from 31.7% in 2014. In fact, Australians bought more SUVs than small cars, even though small cars were four of the top 10 bestsellers.